The present invention relates to glass runs configured to operably couple to frames of automobile doors for guiding door glasses lifting or lowering.
As shown in FIG. 5, an ordinary glass run 20 has been configured to operably couple to a frame 400 of a front door 200 and a rear door 300 of an automobile for guiding a door glass 10 lifting or lowering.
FIG. 6 shows the glass run 20 configured to operably couple to the front door 200. The glass run 20, which is so-called “hidden type”, covers up a part of the frame 400 from an outer-cabin side.
The glass run 20 includes: a body 21; an installation member 25; an outer lip 28; an inner lip 29; and a decorative lip 30. The body 21 includes: an outer-cabin side wall 22; an inner-cabin side wall 23; and a glass run side wall 24, which connects the side walls 22, 23 and forms a channel 60. The installation member 25 is formed on an outer side of the body 21, has a substantially U-shaped cross-section including the glass run side wall 24, a body side wall 26 and a connecting wall 27 which connects the side walls 24, 26, and is assembled on a flange (first flange) 410. The flange (first flange) 410 extends outwardly from the frame 400 toward an exterior of the automobile. The outer lip 28 extends toward an interior of the automobile from an end 22a of the outer-cabin side wall 22 and is slidably brought into contact with a door glass 10. The inner lip 29 extends toward the exterior of the automobile from a position on an outer-cabin side surface of the inner-cabin side wall 23 and is slidably brought into contact with the door glass 10, the position being at a distance toward a side of the glass run side wall 24 from an end 23a of the inner-cabin side wall 23. The decorative lip 30 extends from the end 23a of the inner-cabin side wall 23 for fastening a flange (second flange) 420 together with the inner-cabin side wall 23. The flange (second flange) 420 extends from an inner-cabin side of the frame 400 toward an inner side.
A seal lip 33 is formed on the inner-cabin side wall 23 on a side of the glass run side wall 24 and makes elastic contact with a top end of the door glass 10 when the door glass 10 is in a closed position.
The flange of the frame 400, on which the glass run 20 is assembled, is generally formed of a singular plate or two piled plates. Examples of known configuration of the flange, on which the glass run 20 is assembled, include: a flange 410 of FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 with a plurality of elevated parts 411 formed on an outside surface at regular intervals; and a flange 410 of FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 with a hemming flange part 412 formed by folding a top end of the flange 410 toward an interior of the automobile (see, for example, German unexamined Patent Publication No. 102010034340, Japanese unexamined Patent Publication No. 2015-067109). The installation member 25, which has the substantially U-shaped cross-section, generally has a metal core buried therein or is made of resin material with high rigidity for maintaining a cross-sectional shape after assembly on the flange (first flange) 410. FIG. 8 shows an example that the installation member 25 mainly includes the resin material with high rigidity.
The installation member 25 has an anchoring part 31 on an inner side for receiving the elevated parts 411 or the hemming flange parts 412.
A body seal lip 32 is formed on an outer side of the body side wall 26 and makes elastic contact with a circumferential edge of a door opening of an automobile body. Also, in case the installation member 25 mainly includes the resin material with high rigidity, a thin part 35 is formed on a position on the body side wall 26 closer to the connecting wall 27 than a base root 32a of the body seal lip 32 (see, for example, FIG. 4 of Japanese unexamined Patent Publication No. 2015-067109).
The thin part 35 is formed for widening an angle of an opening of the installation member 25 and smoothly fitting the installation member 25 on the flange 410. The thin part 35 is especially effective when the installation member 25 mainly includes the resin material with high rigidity and the glass run 20 is assembled on the flange 410 with the elevated parts 411 or the hemming flange parts 412, which are increased in thickness.
Unfortunately, however, the thin part 35, which is a channel formed on an outer surface of the body side wall 26 of the glass run 20, degrades appearance.
In addition, since the installation member 25 mainly includes the resin material with high rigidity, when cutting out the glass run 20 formed by extrusion molding at regular intervals, the glass run 20 may be partially torn into wrinkles between a cutting surface and the thin part 35, and then chlorosis which may remain on the glass run 20 degrades appearance even worse.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide the glass runs which are easy to assemble on the flanges without degrading appearance.